Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Holly And Her Illness

In October 2011 I took Holly to the vet as she kept sitting down when we went for a walk.

This went on for a week, and I decided that she just was not right.

One of her cruciate ligaments had completely ruptured.

She was booked in for a surgery the following week and low and behold......her other one went! So two surgeries, two weeks apart it was! She recovered from the surgeries well, she was the perfect patient.

They had shaved her back (for a morphine patch) and, obviously, her legs. Her fur grew back on legs but nothing on her back! On the vets advice she started hydrotherapy, and Holly was getting cartrophen jabs for her cartilages.

We were in and out of the vets at least three times a week for the first 6 weeks, and then fortnightly until April.

In July, she went back for her cartrophen injection and vaccination. The bald patch on her back had still not grown back, which even her vet considered strange.

We have accepted that this was how she was going to be as she had been investigated for hair loss two years earlier and all testing came back negative.

She still didn't seem keen on walking very far.

They suggested putting her on Metacam but we declined because she didn't appear to be in pain or discomfort.

At the very end of September she had a bout of sickness so I rushed her up the vet (she had destroyed a toy and I suspected that was the culprit). She also had a slight fever so we agreed to treat it as a bug. However, if no improvement within 48 hours, other investigations would need to be done.

The next day she was back to her normal self!

We dutifully finished the antibiotics and all seemed well until the end of the week when she just didn't seem right. I rang the vet and they said to observe or, if I was concerned, to bring her in. She was quiet for the rest of the day but did eat her dinner.

When I woke up the next day (Sunday), Holly was in a lot of pain.

I rang the emergency vet and took her in that afternoon. We saw a wonderful vet who was very straight and to the point. Holly had a temp of 40, and they put her on Metacam. The vet insisted that we bring her back in the morning for a scan. She was concerned as Holly's "lady's bits " we're swollen and so were her teats.

Holly had been like that for at least a year and our other vet had said it was nothing to worry about!

Hubby took her in the next day and the vet said he would call.

We got a call to go back in the after noon and that was when our night mare began.

The vet had found a lump which he suspected to be on her ovary, and he was going to remove it the next day. He had given her pain relief, put her on a drip, and was trying to get her temp down .

We gave her a kiss and cuddle and told her to be good.

I will never forget that heavy feeling in my heart as we walked away, we drove home in complete silence, both of us too choked up to talk. Had my poor dog not been through enough?! She had just had her 6th birthday, was she going to see another?

We got a phone call the next afternoon to say that the op had gone well and large lump had been removed and sent away to be tested. She was comfortable, snoring her head off and on a drip for fluids and pain relief. We agreed to not see her as she was so sleepy and sleeping was going to aid her recovery.

At work the next day I was counting down the hours until I could go as see Holly.

I got a call from hubby to say" I don't want to alarm you but the vets have rung and need us over as soon as possible.

They had got her out to scan her abdomen and as they put her back in she had fitted on them. Off we both went again in silence, neither of us knowing what to say.

The vet had also mentioned Holly was knuckling.

I had never heard of that! When we arrived we were told that her leg was knuckling under her, she had had a fit, and blood results said she needed a transfusion. Could it get any worse?!

They told us that knuckling is usually neurological and that there was a possibility that the tumor had spread to her spine or brain and that we should seriously consider putting her to sleep.

They also added that there was a possibility that her bone marrow had been suppressed from excess estrogen and may never kick back in.

They brought her on a trolley and gave us time with her to make our minds. A decision had to be made soon as the only pet blood bank in the UK was in Loughborough and would take about 3 hours to be couriered down.

As she saw us, the vets agreed that as ill and weak as she was her reaction to us was amazing. We spent about 15 minutes with her, she was getting lots of kisses and her little stump did not stop.

I looked into her eyes and could see that there was more life in this dog!

Decision made! We were going to fight despite all the odds. She wasn't ready to give up so neither could we. However we did stipulate that should something go wrong during the transfusion, which can sometimes happen, I requested they did not resuscitate. Those words were the hardest I had said.

Then we went home. They called when the blood arrived and went through it all again including our wishes and said they would call the next day if all went well or if the worse possible happened they would call no matter what time of night .

I got a call at 7 in the morning to say that the transfusion had gone well and that they would call in the afternoon with another update.

I got home from work at 2pm to be told by hubby that we have got to go back. When we got there everything was fine but Holly wasn't eating. They wanted to see whether she would eat for us. And she did eat from my hand!

We were talking to the vet just outside her kennel about when she could come home and out she came and then bang down on the floor.....her bloody leg!

Still did not know what was going on with it but their main concern was getting her blood levels up and then maybe investigating on a neurological level.

I went back that night to feed her again. She had a body stocking on as her wound was seeping. She did at this point look very sorry for herself and I wondered whether or not I had made the right decision.

She seemed in pain and her breathing was heavy.

The vet agreed she was in pain and gave her a pain jab there and then.

For the next four days that was our routine, endless phone calls and visits.

She was getting stronger on her leg, eating and drinking so they decided that she would be far happier at home. Holly came home about 8 days after her op, with a pain relief patch on that was going to wear off the next morning!

The next two weeks were spent at the vets nearly every day, having her wound re-dressed, as it was seeping and not healing properly.

She struggled with pain as well and was put on Tramadol. She wasn't eating much either and on a few occasions I came home from work to find her shaking in her crate due to high temperature.

Her leg at this time still knuckled but was getting better slowly.

I remember taking her for a check up and other pet owners whispering "oh look that dog must have been hit by a car." Some days I just wanted to scream, I hadn't slept in my bed, I was on the settee supervising my fur baby.

Eventually, they put Holly on a really strong antibiotic and told me off when I said that she was going to the park for "toilets" which may I add is about 5 houses away from me. Typical stubborn Rottie wouldn't go in the garden so do you drag her out laying on her belly (where her stitches were) or walk her 10 seconds to the park? We chose the park!

I'm sure it's her stubbornness that got her through it all!

Holly does what she wants to do, not what the vet says she should! Eventually, her wound started to slowly heal and blood and lump results were in. Holly's lump was suspected cancerous, however, no surrounding areas at this stage were affected so was a sit and wait situation.The next few weeks would tell whether her bone marrow was going to work on its own.

They also did a thyroid test at the same time and yep she tested hypothyroid! Holly got started on soloxine the next day and were at the vets every week with check ups and blood tests.

At this stage her leg was back to normal, no more knuckling!

Just as we started to relax, Holly collapsed.

And the knuckling returned. They kept Holly in over night and they ran blood tests on her. Her RBC has dropped from 33 to 28, we were told that there was a possibility the bone marrow was not going to work. However, it could just be where transfusion has dropped off and now maybe her body was going to kick in.

Next morning we could collect her she looked fine. Alert, eating, and dragging the vet around outside for a toilet. His words were she was as strong as an ox.

From that day we have not looked back!

Her leg was working fine, her fur has all grown back, even her second coat that she lost 3 years ago, she lost a lot of weight after the op going from a hefty 46kg to 36 kg and has now settled at between 38-40kg.

She was like a pup again!

I have my dog back. For how long? No one knows but my vet did say by rights she on paper should never have made it this far . Maybe, just maybe she will go the distance! Her knuckling ......no known reason, they have put it down to being in such a bad shape overall. Who knows?

We have now registered Holly with the emergency vet as they were spot on with her and gave her the best care ever! For now everything is going well lets hope it stays this way.

2 comments

I hope for the best for Holly! It's 'ruff' (pun intended) when your best friend has health problems. My dog, Copper, has seizures so we have to have our West Des Moines pet health clinic on call in case something happens. Best wishes for you and your cute dog!

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